MAM
Vikram Sakhuja is Maxus global CEO
MUMBAI: Vikram Sakhuja, CEO of GroupM for India and South Asia, has been appointed as global CEO of Maxus at a time when it has pocketed a string of new accounts including the prized NBC Universal and SC Johnson.
Interestingly, this will be the first time that the CEO of Maxus will be based out of India.
Sakhuja will succeed Kelly Clark who will now be in charge of the Group‘s operations in North America.
Continuing to be based in Mumbai, Sakhuja will take over the new responsibility after the agency finds his replacement at GroupM.
GroupM, WPP’s media agency, has carried out a number of changes including GroupM North America CEO Rob Norman who has been named as the chief digital officer of the agency in a newly created position.
Sakhuja, Clark and Norman will report to GroupM global president Dominic Proctor. Each will begin his new role later this year.
“Vikram is the perfect candidate to take on the Maxus role from Kelly. Maxus has a great management team and a lot of momentum. I have no doubt that Vikram will continue to build a great agency,” Proctor said.
He added that Sakhuja will remain in his current role until his successor is announced.
Sakhuja told Indiantelevision.com, “It is a very exciting opportunity to be leading Maxus which is a young and energetic brand. Being named as global CEO is very humbling.”
Sakhuja has over 28 years of experience in the industry. He had joined GroupM in 2002 as MD Fulcrum. He was later promoted as MD of Mindshare South Asia and then to CEO for GroupM South Asia. Prior to joining GroupM, he has also worked with Star TV as EVP-marketing, Coca-Cola India as marketing manager brands and Procter & Gamble.
Brands
Zepto sets up mini delivery hub at AI Summit
Quick commerce goes live at venue with 1,700 daily orders
NEW DELHI: At a summit devoted to the future of artificial intelligence, quick commerce quietly stole the show at ground level. Zepto set up a compact Delivery Hub at the India AI Impact Summit, turning the venue into a live demonstration of instant retail in action.
Built at roughly one third the size of a standard 4,000 sq ft dark store, the scaled down hub was engineered for speed. Despite its smaller footprint, it was stocked with more than 10,000 stock keeping units curated specifically for summit attendees. From mid morning cravings to late afternoon slumps, the shelves were primed for every possible need.
Till Wednesday, the hub was processing an average of 1,700 orders a day. Lunch hour emerged as the clear rush period, as delegates swapped panel discussions for paneer puffs and product demos for Diet Coke. Snacks topped the order charts, followed by tea and other beverages.
Among the fastest moving items were samosas, plain Maggi, chicken puffs, Bisleri packaged drinking water bottles, Coca-Cola Diet Coke cans and Lay’s India’s Magic Masala potato chips. In short, comfort food met cutting edge tech.
The on site hub gave attendees near instant access to essentials without stepping outside the venue. More than just a convenience counter, it served as a real time case study of how technology led operations can power seamless commerce even at large scale events.
While speakers debated how humans and intelligent systems will co create and co work, Zepto offered a practical reminder that sometimes the smartest innovation is simply getting a hot snack into hungry hands, fast.
